Two-Time Olympic Champ Vlasov Leads Three Russians Into Day Six Finals

Friday, April 12, 2019 - 19:45 By Eric Olanowski

BUCHAREST, Romania (April 11) – The Russian Federation’s Greco-Roman train is on track to defend their European team title from last year after opening up the Greco-Roman share of the competition by inserting three wrestlers into the Day 6 finals.

The loaded five-man day-five squad featured reigning world champions Stepan MARYANYAN and Sergey SEMENOV, two-Olympic champions Davit CHAKVETADZE and Roman VLASOV, and U23 world runner-up Vitalii KABALOEV.

Stepan MARYANYAN (RUS) will wrestle for his first European title since 2015. (Photo: Gabor Martin)

Both reigning world champions Maryanyan and Semenov were undefeated on the day heading into the semifinals, but only Maryanyan came out on top of his semifinals match and will wrestle for gold on Saturday night.

Maryanyan, the reigning world champion at 67kg, picked up shutout wins over Michal Jacek TRACZ (POL) and Justas PETRAVICIUS (LTU), then scored an 11-3 win over last year’s European eighth-place finisher, Levani KAVJARADZE (GEO) to lock up his spot in tomorrow’s finals.

Maryanyan, who will be looking for his first continental top finishes since 2015, will wrestle Rio Olympic bronze medalist Stig-Andre BERGE (NOR) in the 67kg finals match.

Berge grabbed a 5-2 win in the semifinals over Taleh MAMMADOV (AZE) and will wrestle in his second consecutive European title match. He fell short in last year’s finals to Mihai MIHUT (ROU).

Russia’s second reigning world champion who was looking to make the finals was Sergey Semenov. Semenov fell to Georgia’s Iakobi KAJAIA (GEO), 3-2, in the semifinals, ending his run to a continental title.

The Georgian big man will see eight-time European champion Riza KAYAALP (TUR) in the finals. In Kayaalp’s semifinals match, he avenged his opening round world championship loss to Heiki NABI (EST), 4-0. If the Turkish superstar is able to win tomorrow night, he’ll surpass Kamza YERLIKAYA (TUR) Turkish record of eight European titles.

Meanwhile, the story was the same for the Russian Olympic champions as one came out on top and one fell short of his goal of winning a European title.

London and Rio Olympic gold-medal winner Roman Vlasov scored four wins on Friday and made it to the 77kg finals. But, Rio Olympic champion Davit Chakvetadze wasn’t so lucky and dropped a one-point match to Azerbaijan’s Islam ABBASOV in the quarterfinals. Abbasov ended up making it to the finals where he’ll square off against Ukraine’s Rio runner-up Zhan BELENIUK.

Vlasov, the defending 77kg European champion, completed his run to the finals with wins over tenth-ranked Bozo STARCEVIC (CRO), Ukraine’s Mykola DARAGAN, 2017 world champion Viktor NEMES (SRB), and U23 world bronze medalist Fatih CENGIZ (TUR).

Vlasov will wrestle Germany’s Roland SCHWARZ in tomorrow night’s gold-medal match. Schwarz barreled past Bulgaria’s Daniel ALEKSANDROV, 10-2, to make the finals.

Vitalii KABALOEV was one of three Russian's who made the Day 6 finals. (Photo: Gabor Martin)

The final Russian who was in action on Day 5 was Vitalii Kabaloev. In his European debut, the U23 world runner-up scored perhaps one of the most shocking upsets of the tournament, knocking off defending world champion Eldaniz AZIZLI (AZE), 7-5.

Kabaloev will go toe-to-toe with Romania’s Florin TITA (ROU), who used the home crowd to help push him to the 5-4 victory over Anders ROENNINGEN (NOR).

The Day 6 finals behind at 18:00 local time, and can be followed on www.unitedworldwrestling.org.

RESULTS
55kg
GOLD - Vitalii KABALOEV (RUS) vs. Florin TITA (ROU)
SEMIFINAL - Vitalii KABALOEV (RUS) df. Eldaniz AZIZLI (AZE), 7-5
SEMIFINAL - Florin TITA (ROU) df. Anders ROENNINGEN (NOR), 5-4

63kg
GOLD - Stepan MARYANYAN (RUS) vs. Stig-Andre BERGE (NOR)
SEMIFINAL - Stig-Andre BERGE (NOR) df. Taleh MAMMADOV (AZE), 4-2
SEMIFINAL - Stepan MARYANYAN (RUS) df. Levani KAVJARADZE (GEO), 11-3

77kg
GOLD - Roman VLASOV (RUS) vs Roland SCHWARZ (GER)
SEMIFINAL - Roland SCHWARZ (GER) df. Daniel ALEKSANDROV (BUL), 10-2
SEMIFINAL - Roman VLASOV (RUS) df. Fatih CENGIZ (TUR), 3-1

87kg
GOLD - Islam ABBASOV (AZE) vs. Zhan BELENIUK (UKR)
SEMIFINAL - Islam ABBASOV (AZE) df. Mikalai STADUB (BLR), 4-0
SEMIFINAL - Zhan BELENIUK (UKR) df. Eividas STANKEVICIUS (LTU), 5-1

130kg
GOLD - Riza KAYAALP (TUR) vs. Iakobi KAJAIA (GEO)
SEMIFINAL - Riza KAYAALP (TUR) df. Heiki NABI (EST), 4-0
SEMIFINAL - Iakobi KAJAIA (GEO) df. Sergey SEMENOV (RUS) 3-2

#UnitedWorldWrestling

UWW successfully hosts first-ever World Conference

Thursday, September 25, 2025 - 14:16 By United World Wrestling Press

ZAGREB, Croatia (September 24) -- United World Wrestling successfully hosted its first-ever World Conference in Zagreb, Croatia from September 17 to 19.

UWW President Nenad LALOVIC welcomed all the guest to the conference, held during the World Championships in Zagreb, and led the floor with discussions on Artificial Intelligence in wrestling, Amateur MMA, developing wrestling and the impact of social media to keep wrestling at the top.

United World Wrestling President Nenad LALOVIC at the World Conference. (Photo: United World Wrestling / Jake Kirkman)

"On behalf of United World Wrestling, I wish you a warm welcome in Zagreb first, but to this conference too," Lalovic said. "We had this idea maybe almost a decade ago. We were seeking for a platform, how these good relations among wrestlers and the national federations can improve our sport."

Injury prevention, weight management, career transitions for wrestlers, as well as the future of the sport were some of the key discussions during the three-day event at the Westin Hotel.

International Olympic Committee member and former President of Croatia Kolinda GRABAR-KITAROVIC.

Former President of Croatia and International Olympic Committee member Kolinda GRABAR-KITAROVIC marked her presence at the historic event in capital city of Croatia.

Ministry of Tourism and Sports, Croatia State Secretary Josip PAVIC was also present at the conference and expressed his gratitude for entrusting Croatia for hosting the championships and the conference. Croatia Wrestling Federation President Vladimir BREGOVIC, Dean of University of Kinesiology, Zagreb Prof. Mario BAIC and numerous other stakeholders marked their presence at the conference.

On day one of the conference, UWW's growth in media and digital transformation was discussed with focus on strategy, social media, partnership and equipment and new technologies. The discussion then headed to Beach Wrestling and Associated Styles with Amateur MMA and Grappling as the main topics.

Zack ERRETT

The second day of the conference saw UWW Educator Zach ERRETT explaining the rules of Beach Wrestling, International Testing Agency Senior Legal Counsel Ayesha TALPADE presenting details of anti-doping program, followed by a panel discussion.

Kuniko TANIOKA, President of the Shigakkan University in Japan, led the discussion on sport nutrition and weight management along with UWW Medical Commission members Saam FALAHATI, Ioannis BARBAS and Szabolcs MOLNAR.

Former wrestlers shared their experiences on transitioning from wrestling to other jobs. Neven and Nenad ZUGAJ were among the panellists that also included Mijain LOPEZ, Taha AGKUL, Arsen JULFALAKYAN, Don RYAN, Alexei BAZULIN, Erica WEIBE, Bruce BAUMGARTNER.

Sofia MATTSSON

Head of the United States women's team Terry STEINER presented the "coaching the women's" part on day three. He explained how to support and train women wrestlers and led the panel that also had Tanioka, Marwa AMRI, Vincent AKA, Sofia MATTSSON, Wiebe and Nadine PIETSCHMAN.

"Depending on the success of this first World Conference, we will decide if in the future it will be a biannual one or a quadrennial one. Maybe every year if you have so much to say," Lalovic said. "World Championships is the best opportunity for that because people are already here. This physical presence is always more efficient."

A national federation workshop organized by United World Wrestling in Zagreb.

NF workshop

UWW also organized a workshop for the National Federations. UWW Sports Director Jean-Daniel REY and UWW Development Director Deqa NIAMKEY welcomed various NFs which had registered for the workshop.

Capacity building, finance and event organization were the key topics at the workshop. Croatia Wrestling Federation Secretary General Tin BREGOVIC, Professor of Kinesiology Nenad BORKOVIC, Professional Master in Social Innovation and Management Ivan BLAZEVIC led a panel discussion on the topic as they were part of the organizing committee for the World Championships in Zagreb.

Azerbaijan, Brazil, Spain and Thailand presented case studies related to event organization and the challenges of competitions.

Two-Time Olympic Champ Vlasov Leads Three Russians Into Day Six Finals

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UWW successfully hosts first-ever World Conference